MONDO EXTRAS

Kendra goes down to the kitchens and finds herself alone; she goes to the canister but first turns on the radio, flipping through frequencies, listening to life. The Adriatic calls across the oceans to the Demetrius. Genius Doctor Gaius Baltar is being interviewed, asked questions about the issues of the day. "A lot of once thought of Pegasus as the answer to our prayers. Were they wrong?"

After the fake attack on the fake relay station, the numbers are these: 816 dead, 121 injured, 32 Vipers destroyed, 61 badly damaged. Not enough parts to repair them all. That's a sign that the Scylla is coming. Helena admits to Kendra that it's a high price for a tactically insignificant victory, but a CO and XO are a team, neither of them blunt instruments; Kendra can't be hearing this from her now, so she lends her back some of that strength she's been taking from her. Not after all that Helena's lost and continues to lose. "I wouldn't say it's insignificant, sir. I'd say we've put the enemy on notice. The price we paid is my fault." How so? "I gave her...it...my access codes." Pronouns, remember that? Remember how you never knew if Sharon was a person today or not? They're learning. "It must have used them to override our security lockouts." That's exactly what Gina did: use true names, to override security. Any Six: she sees the truth, the heart of the thing, and rips it out. It feels like this: the camera pulls back just enough so we see that this whole conversation is taking place at the interrogation window outside Gina's cell.

"No, you gave it something far more important than that. You gave it your trust, as did I. But this thing really knows how to manipulate human emotions, preys on them." Lieutenant Thorne enters, causing Helena's skin to crawl; Kendra shrinks back just the tiniest bit. His back is strong. "Lieutenant Thorne, I want you to interrogate our Cylon prisoner. Find out everything it knows. And since it's so adept at mimicking human feeling, I'm assuming that its software is vulnerable to them as well, so..." Helena swallows. She could only love Gina if Gina loved her back; if she was created to be loved. Only if Gina loved her, like Caprica loves Gaius, like Gaius loved Felix, only if it's real, does this make sense. She doesn't question Gina's love, but she considers her imperative. If Gina loves her, if Gina has tunneled through the security, if even after Belzen Gina still got in there, then they can track her back, follow that love back to its source. It becomes an asset. "Pain, yes. Of course... Degradation, fear. Shame. I want you to really test its limits." The infinite sadness in her eyes as she does this thing, this unforgivable and necessary thing. She can't ask her crew to do anything she's not prepared to do, so she's going to do it. Belzen, and now Gina, to prove to them and herself that it's possible to become a razor. What did Carolanne's ghost say? Something about unassailable façades, how you have to recognize the inhumanity with which you're automatically gifted when they hand you your command. "Be as creative as you need to be." Thorne enters Gina's cell; she is still strong. Her will as she looks up at him is strong. He makes a fist.